Methods and Systems for Determining Building Internal Framework from External Imagery

1. A method for defining a building internal framework from external imagery, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of raw images of a building, wherein the plurality of raw images comprises a plurality of infrared (IR) thermography images; processing the plurality of raw images of the building to establish a plurality of facades, wherein the processing the plurality of raw images comprises: for each of the plurality of façades, selecting a façade; selecting all IR thermography images corresponding with the selected façade; removing barrel distortion from the selected IR thermography images; stitching the selected IR thermography images corresponding with the selected façade together to form a single façade image corresponding with the selected facade; correcting perspective distortion of the single facade image; cropping the single facade image to remove any surrounding redundant portions; and receiving dimensions of an actual facade corresponding with the single façade image; and determining the building internal framework for each of the plurality of facades.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of raw images further comprises: a plurality of red-green-blue (RGB) images.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the building internal framework for each of the plurality of facades comprises: receiving the single façade image; identifying the building internal framework shown in the single façade image; and determining the building internal framework dimensions shown in the single façade images.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the cropping the single façade image further comprises: cropping the single facade image in conformity with a corresponding RGB image of the actual façade.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the stitching the selected IR thermography images comprises: applying projective transformations to stitch pairs of the selected IR thermography images together one at a time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the building internal framework is selected from the group consisting of: wood studs, wood beams, wood posts, metal studs, metal beams, metal posts, engineered studs, engineered beams, and engineered posts.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the external imagery is captured by aerial photographic equipment or ground level photographic equipment.

8. A system for defining a building internal framework from external imagery, the system comprising: an image capture device for capturing a plurality of raw images of a building, wherein the plurality of raw images comprises a plurality of infrared (IR) thermography images; a computing processor capable of processing the plurality of raw images of the building to establish a plurality of facades, wherein the processing the plurality of raw images comprises: for each of the plurality of facades, selecting a façade; selecting all IR thermography images corresponding with the selected façade; removing barrel distortion from the selected IR thermography images; stitching the selected IR thermography images corresponding with the selected façade together to form a single facade image corresponding with the selected facade; correcting perspective distortion of the single facade image; cropping the single facade image to remove any surrounding redundant portions; and receiving dimensions of an actual facade corresponding with the single façade image; and a user interface for determining the building internal framework for each of the plurality of facades.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of raw images further comprises: a plurality of RGB images.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the determining the building internal framework for each of the plurality of facades comprises: receiving the single façade image; identifying the building internal framework shown in the single façade image; and determining the building internal framework dimensions shown in the single façade images.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the cropping the single façade image further comprises: cropping the single facade image in conformity with a corresponding RGB image of the actual façade.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the stitching the selected IR thermography images comprises: applying projective transformations to stitch pairs of the selected IR thermography images together one at a time.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the building internal framework is selected via the user interface from the group consisting of: wood studs, wood beams, wood posts, metal studs, metal beams, metal posts, engineered studs, engineered beams, and engineered posts.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the external imagery is captured by aerial photography or ground level photography.